Live from Sundance: A GQ&A with Ari Graynor and Lauren Anne Miller

A breakout comedy about phone sex...starring Seth Rogen's wife

It's a killer premise: Two Manhattan roommates short on cash start a phone sex line to pay the rent. That's the story of For a Good Time, Call..., co-starring Lauren Anne Miller (Seth Rogen's wife in a sharp debut) and Ari Graynor (funny in everything). Reportedly, it just got nabbed by Focus Features for a cool $2 million. So, where'd they get the idea? You'll never guess.

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GQ: Lauren, you co-wrote the film in addition to starring. Where did the idea come from for the phone sex line?
Lauren Anne Miller: Freshman year of college, my writing partner Katie Anne Naylon ran a phone sex line out of her dorm room. We wanted to tell a story about female friendship. We were talking about what world to set it in, and one story we wanted to tell was that of phone sex.

GQ: Wow. Where was this? And how did you find out?
Lauren Anne Miller: Florida State in Tallahassee. I was in film school and she was in the writing program. Anyway, one night she comes into my room and she's clutching these fliers that are so tame they could be for guitar lessons. They had lips on them. She's like, "I have to tell you, last year I ran a phone sex line out of my dorm room and I had the line wired in. It was 1-866-FSU-TITS. And I'm only telling you because I'm going to start doing it again." We're very different people.

Ari Graynor: You can't make this shit up.

GQ: What were her experiences like?
Lauren Anne Miller: She was a virgin at the time. She actually delayed having sex for the first time because of some of the crazy things she'd heard while running her phone sex line.

GQ: In For a Good Time, Call..., the phone number is 1-900-MMM-HMMM. Did you consider other numbers?
Lauren Anne Miller: We wanted something that wasn't super-dirty, so we could say it out in the world. In the movie, we mention 1-800-VAG-BAGS. But marketing-wise, that wouldn't work all that well.

Ari Graynor: MMM-HMMM is silly. That's the thing about the movie. In some ways, yes, it's raunchy. But in so many ways it's tame and sweet.

GQ: It is a sweet love story. Still, did you have to warn your families about the content? Like, FYI, there's a scene where I have a dildo in my mouth?
Ari Graynor: How about the fact that I was sitting next to my mom orgasming. That was a little bit awkward for me. But my parents had already seen me in another very proud moment, fake-orgasming at the beginning of The Sitter. So they'd already been through some of that.

Lauren Anne Miller: It makes me want to throw up a little. My dad was next to me when I said, "I like it when they're meaty." But my dad had read the script and seen some early cuts.

GQ: Lauren, you're married to Seth Rogen, who has a cameo in the film. Were you nervous about showing him the movie?
Lauren Anne Miller: Well, he's been helpful the whole time. I'm just lucky to have someone that I share the same passions with.

GQ: OK. But do you get offended if he doesn't think a joke is funny?
Lauren Anne Miller: Yeah, we'll go back and forth about stuff. But we have our own tastes.

GQ: In the film, one of the of the girls exercises at home with a stripper pole. Does anyone actually do that? I thought that was a fake trend.
Ari Graynor: Yes! I have a friend that installed a stripper pole in her house. She took the classes. She's this outrageous, very funny lady. And when people would come over she'd be like, "You guys, look!" And she'd jump on the pole and flip upside down. She was really into it for awhile.

GQ: What happens when she's not into it anymore?
Ari Graynor: People probably leave it up because of the shtick. There will be a stripper pole in the kid's nursery. But it's a workout. I was exhausted just running around that pole and talking on the phone and shaking my boobies.

GQ: There's a twenty-something virgin in the film. Do you know anyone like that?
Ari Graynor: I met a paparazzo here who lives in Utah. He was talking to me and Justin Long the other night. He said, "I'm the 34-year-old virgin who lives in his parent's basement." [beat] It was funnier in the movie.

GQ: Ari, this is your fourth time at Sundance. Do you have any survival tips?
Ari Graynor: Sundance is like Vegas. You can't stay more than three days or you'll die. I won't have any alcohol the first day. My tips? Drink tons and tons of water. And pre-plan your outfits.

GQ: Funny. Have you had any good celebrity run-ins?
Lauren Anne Miller: Yesterday, Paul Simon used the restroom right in front of me at the Entertainment Weekly lounge.

Ari Graynor: I had a really good one. I met Ethel Kennedy.

GQ: Right, there's an Ethel Kennedy documentary this year. Did you talk to her?
Ari Graynor: Yes. I got to tell Ethel Kennedy that I went to high school with her grandsons, one of whom took me to his senior prom. He's now running for office. She told me I should go campaign for him, which has always been a plan of mine. It works out perfectly. Now I have Ethel's blessing.

GQ: Last thing: Ari, you're about to finish up a run in Relatively Speaking on Broadway. It's three one-act plays, and you're in the one written by Woody Allen. Do you have a good Woody story?
Ari Graynor: He was so present. I would be running out on stage and he'd say, "I have a new joke for you." And he would give it to me. And I would give it back to him. And he would give us notes. The best thing was, opening night, he gave us all mezuzahs.

GQ: The Jewish doorpost? Nice.
Ari Graynor: So I have a mezuzah from Woody Allen. This is a little bit of backstory. So, there's a moment in the play where we're talking about these books that these characters have written. And I don't say anything. I thought it was weird that I didn't say anything. So in rehearsals, I asked John Turturro—who was the director—about it. He said, "You go up to Woody Allen and ask him." I go, "Alright." So I went up to Woody and I said, "I think maybe I should say something here." And he took the pages and took off his glasses and he said, "I'll go home and look at it tonight." And then he came back and said, "I have a joke for you if you want to try it." I said, "OK." This was the joke: I say, "The character of Rosalie who performs oral sex at the Seder was based on me."

GQ: That's funny.
Ari Graynor: So when he gave me the mezuzah opening night, his handwritten card said, "You can come to my Seder anytime. Woody."